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Friday, January 25, 2008

We did wonder when reading the sad story earlier today about the sixteen year old kid who was arrested after supposedly saying he was going to hijack a plane to commit suicide who'd be the first news outlet to try and make something out of the supposed plans to fly the plane into a Hannah Montana gig.

Well done, TMZ, whose team broke off from their current duties of reporting every single rumour surrounding the death of Heath Ledger, and then reporting the denials with a 'fancy anyone even believing that' sneer, to bring the 'news' of how close Miley Cyrus came to grief:

The unnamed 16-year-old had handcuffs, duct tape, rope and other items with him on the flight Tuesday, and though there was no incident on the plane, the FBI says he had a plan to hijack the jet. "He had some general plans where he was going and indicated where he wanted to die."

... and then how close she didn't come to grief:

Even though Nashville media have reported that the plane was going to be directed to Lafayette, La. to interrupt a Miley Cyrus concert, it seems that the concert was scheduled for today, not Tuesday.

... which didn't stop TMZ headlining the report:

Dude Tries to Crash Miley Gig – With Plane?

although, of course, the response to the question is 'no, not really'.

Now, let's assume that there really was a 'plot' - and it wasn't all a damaged kid seeking some attention - let's just look at the facts here: a sixteen year old boy, acting on his own, planning to somehow overpower the entire attendant team (and, presumably, all the passengers) using only some string and sticky-tape. So, how's he actually going to manage that? But even if he did, he'd then have to get into the locked cockpit, and somehow overpower the flight deck team. And then somehow fly the plane to a concert, and dive it into the gig - which isn't that easy, if you're not used to flying this sort of plane. So, really, it was a 'plot' in the way that another 16 year-old boy's 'plot' to move to Hollywood and somehow become Miley Cyrus' boyfriend is a plot.